__________________When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. - Louis Veuillot

I am Major Jeremy Vaughan, a student at the Fort Lee satellite Command and General Staff Officers' Course. CGSS Policy Memorandum Number 8 dated 12 March 2009 dictates that all students are required to participate in a reputable blog to satisfy a pass/fail requirement. I understand and support the greater purpose of this requirement: sharing our individual stories of military service with the nation. I also feel that at times sharing too much information can send the wrong message and prompt negative attribution against service members. Look no further than recent headlines of Navy personnel who were reprimanded for sharing their stories with a video game manufacturer:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...717194356.html
I agree, an argument based on the Navy scenario would be a stretch, but it also illustrates that there could be a blurred line between acceptability and misconduct.

Perhaps the greater intent for this requirement should be to develop another writing style in an open and public format. I have lost count of the number of argumentative essays I have written in the last three months, but suffice it to say that an argumentative essay is the approved format solution to test our comprehension. So no, I am not going to back up any of my claims with evidence, but rather connect streams of my thought. Blogging, in my opinion, should be creative writing – sometimes argumentative, sometimes not. We have spent countless hours describing creative thinking, but then conform to exactly ONE model.

As the deadline came and went for this requirement (a soft deadline), I have come up with several and written slightly fewer potential blogs: pear cider and Pennsylvanian lager, nuclear facility preparedness for Superstorm Sandy, rock ballads, Navy SEAL reprimands, mountain biking and running, Petraeus resignation, and how to make money blogging later in life (see aforementioned but unidentified pear/cider remark). When it finally came down to the hard deadline, this was the result. Sometimes my creative writing should not need to be hamstrung by the claim that “I am a Major in the United States Army.”

But then again, given the current events unfolding in the media, I should probably reinforce the importance of that statement by repeating it when I wake up in the morning and then again before bed at night.

And the final requirement: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.